Since founding Twins Delights roughly two years ago, these 25-year-old twin sisters have built somewhat of a cookie empire across the city.

Upon graduating from university (both studied business), Amanda took a full-time job as a rain boot category manager for the footwear manufacturer Kamik, while Pamela, unsure of what she wanted to do, began working part-time at a shoe store.

"We started working after school, but in our spare time we were always baking for family, friends and parties. Every time we were reminded 'all right girls don't forget to bring your cookies!' " Amanda explained.

"Then one day our brother came to us and said, 'why don't you do something with this? You should do something with your cookies,' " Pamela said.

The twins took his suggestion to heart and started researching Montreal's hyper-competitive baked-goods industry. Fully aware of the importance of differentiating themselves from their competition, they decided against opening up yet another Montreal bakery. Instead, they focused their attention on establishing an online cookie-delivery service. They were motivated by the fact that south of the border a company called Insomnia Cookies had pioneered the concept with tremendous success.

"We realized that no other company offered a service like that in Montreal, where you can go online, press a button and get freshly baked cookies delivered to your door within two hours," Amanda said.

Like many other startups founded by young entrepreneurs, Twins Delights was bootstrapped into existence. Family members with experience in law, accounting and Web design all provided their expertise, while countless friends served as taste testers. With practically zero overhead and without spending a dime on advertising, word quickly spread, and soon enough they were delivering cookies across the island.

Within a few months, the twins expanded their revenue stream by offering a catering service and by selling cookies wholesale to cafes. They noticed that many cafes purchased processed goods that simply weren't fresh. Hence, whenever the twins visit store managers, they emphasize the freshness of their cookies and the purity of the ingredients that go into them.

"Our cookies are a little more pricey than others, but there's no preservatives, no artificial flavours, some are gluten-free and they're only between 120 to 170 calories despite being larger than the average cookie," Amanda said.

Another tool in the sisters' arsenal is the care they put into their packaging. Twins Delights offers on-site setup using various sizes of cookie jars, serving plates, gift bags and boxes, all of which are fully customizable to compliment the overall decor of the establishment or event.

Such attention to detail seems to have paid off. Last month, DavidsTea agreed to sell Twins Delights in three of their Montreal stores.

"We love working with Pamela and Amanda because they're very personable and knowledgeable. They're also very open about their baking philosophy and the ingredients that they use are of the highest quality," said Amanda Pyluk, a buying assistant at DavidsTea.

With hundreds of cookies to bake every week, the twins delegate their responsibilities accordingly. Amanda spends most of her time managing their website and identifying potential customers while Pamela focuses on the day-to-day operations of the business. When they deliver the cookies and approach cafes, however, they always make sure to go together.

"It's all about selling yourself," Pamela said in a confident tone. "We want to get to know our customers, and we want them to know us," she added.

One of their biggest challenges has been juggling between online orders, wholesale orders and special events. The twins readily admit that as they continue to grow it will become increasingly difficult to function in the same manner as they do at the moment. Right now, it's only the two of them, and with the busy summer season on the horizon, they have given thought to hiring an intern to help spread the workload.

In the near future, Twins Delights hopes to add a fourth dimension to their business: corporate deliveries.

"We sell to everybody else so the next logical step is to start delivering our cookies to offices," Amanda said.

The twins are in the process of opening a small storefront and eventually want to expand their service across Canada, but they're not in any rush.

"One of the most important pieces of advice we can give to other aspiring young entrepreneurs is to be realistic and don't try to grow too quickly. We think a lot of people overdo it by trying to open up everything at once and crumble underneath all the pressure," they said, jointly.

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